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(N0 Mode 1.)

, H. SUHULZE-BERGB.'

APPARATUS FOR DECORATING CHINA AND eLAssw RE,

No. 296,223. gggented Apr. 1, 1884, ya z. 7 "\(u 2 '0 W: 3? g N FETERQ. Phumwnmhlr. William D. Q

UN TED STATES PATENT HERMANN SGHULZE-BERGE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR- TO HIMSELF AND JESSE H. LIPPINGOTT, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR DECORATING CHINA AND GLASS WARE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,223, dated April 1, 1884.

Application filed April 19, 1883. (No model.)

upon the surface of the article to be decorated or to apply it to such surface by means of transfecpaper on which the desired pattern has been previously printed or drawn.

My improved apparatus is applicable to printing the required pattern or design directly upon the surface to be decorated, either with a pigment containing the desired coloring-matter, or to printing the design with a resinous varnish or other sticky substance of suitable consistency, and afterward dusting the coloringmatter in a finely-powdered condition over the printed surface while yet moist, so that the coloring-matter may adhere only to the lines or marks forming the pattern or design.

My improvement is also applicable to the etching of glassware by printing on the surface to be etched with a pigment composed of pulverized solid fluoridesas fluoride of sodium, &c.n1ixed with a suitable vehicle, or by dusting the pulverized fluoride on the pattern printed with resinous varnish on the surface of the glass.

The method of etching glass by means of pulverized fluorides has been fully described in a former application for Letters Patent made by me, my present invention having reference to the apparatus for applying the desired; pattern or design to the surface to be etched or decorated.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to use my improvement, I will proceed to describe it in detail.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 represent the devices which I employ for printing a decorative pattern on a glasstumbler; Figs. 3 and 4:, those employed in case of a glass goblet; Figs. 5 and 6, those used for decorating or etching a glass globe.

In the several drawings like letters denote similar parts.

In describing my improvement I shall illustrate it as applied to the decoration of articles of glassware, the mode of applying it to china-ware being obviously similar.

The printing-surface may be formed of any suitable elastic material, such as vulcanized rubber, gelatine, glue, or leather. The pat- 6o tern or design is formed in relief on the printingsurface. If vuleanizedrubber is employed,

the desired pattern is engraved deeply in wood, the pattern being in relief. From this an electrotype is taken, and then a plaster cast from the eleotrotype, and the plaster cast is used as a mold for the rubber printing-plate. In place of rubber, gelatine may be used for the printing-plate, which is more plastic than rubber; or a mixture of dissolved glue with a little glycerine and some solution of .bichromate of potash makes a good substance for the printing-plate. The fluid mixture is cast into the plaster mold, the surface of which has been varnished, and then washed with a few 7 5 drops of oil. hen solid, the cast is removed from the mold and exposed to the light, and then washed in water, the eifect of which is to render the glue insoluble to water, owing to the presence of the bichromate. Printingplates thus formed are notattacked by turpentine or resinous substances, and may be cleaned with benzine. The desired pattern may be embossed with dies on leather; but a leather printing-surface does not give as fine 8 5 lines as the other substances I have mentioned. The printing-plate thus made, if of other material than rubber or leather, is secured to a band of leather or cloth, at each extremity of which is fastened a metallic eye- 0 piece, by which it is fastened to a block.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, are rep resented the devices used for printing on a tumbler or other article having the shape of a truncated cone. If the article to be printed on is not cylindrical, the printing-plate a is made in a curved form, the radius of the curve being equal to the distance from the point on the tumbler where the pattern is to be printed to the point where the converging lines'of the 10:1 sides of the tumbler b would meet if extended. The printing-plate a is secured by means of e the metallic end pieces, 0 c, to the plane surface of a bed, (Z, of wood or other suitable material. Near the lower edge of the bed (Z is a projecting ledge, 6, having a curved surface corresponding to the curve of the plate a, and parallel therewith, the distance between the upper edge of the curve of the ledge e and the plate a regulating the distance from the bottom of the tumbler at which the design is to be printed. At one edge of the bed (Z is a small bracket, f, through whichasmall screwbolt, f, is passed, one end of which is attached to the metallic end piece,c,of the plate a. By means of a nut on the bolt f pressing against the bracket f the plate a is drawn tight, and by stretching the plate a by means of the nut on the bolt f it can be so adjusted that the ends of the design can be made exactly to meet. A curved ledge, g, on the bed (Z serves to keep the printing-plate in place. This ledge should not project as far above the surface of the bed das thethickness of theplate. Another ledge, h, just above the curved edge of the ledge e, rises above the surface of the bed d to aheight equal to the thickness of the plate a, so that when the tumbler is placed on the bed (Z, with its lower part resting against the ledge 0, itssides will touch only the ledge h and the sur face of the printing-plate a.

The pigment or varnish is applied by means of an inking-roller to the printing-plate a, and then the tumbler is laid on the bed d at one side, with the bottom of the tumbler pressing against the curved ledge e, and the tumbler is rolled by hand, with a slight but decided pressure, until the desired design is printed all around it. Letters or monograms may be printed on the tumbler at the same time by means of type, made of rubber or other elastic material, inserted in a recess in'the bed d, as shown at t.

In case of an article of bulged shape, or not having straight sides-such, for example, as a gobletpieces of ,wood or other material are attached to it in such a way as to give it a rolling surface of cylindrical or conical form. An example of this is given in Fig. 3, in which it represents a goblet having a stem and foot. In such case two blocks, Z Z, of wood or other suitable material, are placed around the stem, resting against the foot and lower end of the bowl of the goblet. These blocks Z Z are so shaped that when united around the stem of the goblet their exterior surface isthat'of a truncated cone, the outline of which, if extended upward, would touch the sides of the goblet tangentially at the point where the pattern is to be printed on its surface, as shown in Fig. '3. The blocks Z Z may be secured by gum bands at m, or by other means. The curve of the pattern a and of the ledge 6 will correspond to the degree of inclination of the sides of the truncated cone formed by the goblet 7c and the blocks Z Z. If rubber bands are used to hold together the blocks Z Z, they may serve as the rolling surface of the blocks Z Z,- or they may rest in grooves in the blocks. In case blocks Z Z are employed, the ledge h (shown in Fig. 2) will not be needed, as the blocks Z Z will roll on the plane surface of the bed (2. If nec- 7o essary, a recess, n, is made in the bed d, just above the ledge c, to allow the foot of the goblet to pass without its edge touching the bed d.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the modification of devices employed when a globular article is to 7 5 be printed upon. I

In Fig. 5,, p is a glass globe. A tapering plug, q, isinserted in the circular opening at one end, and another tapering plug, q, in the' circular opening at the other end. A rod, r, with a head, S, at one end, and a slot and key, S, or screw-nut at the other end, passes through the plugs q q in the line of the axis of the globe p, and serves to keep the'plugs q q firmly in place. The plug g has a projecting rim or head, 1 of the shapeof a truncated cone, of such inclination at the periphery that a line touching the side and extended to the glass globe Will touch it tangentially at the point where the printing is to be made, as shown by the dotted line as m in Fig. 5. The angle between the ledge e and the surface of the bed (Z should correspond with the angle at the outer edge of the head (1 of the plug q, so that the side of the plug may restevenly on the surface of the bed d while the globe is being rolled over the pattern.

Vhen the surface to be printed on is a curved surface of short radius, as is the case with the globe p, the surface of the bed d beneath the pattern a should be slightly hollowed out, so as to permit the flexible pattern to yield in the middle, and thus accommodate itself to the convex surface of the glass, as shown at 0, Fig. 5.

Having thus described the devices to be used in printing on articles of glass or china ware of conical and spherical shapes, the variations of devices necessary for printing on other shaped articles will be sufficiently obvious to the skilled workman, and will need no further explanation here.

WVhen the glass or china ware is to be decorated by my process, the varnish or pigment, as the case may be, is spread upon a flat glass plate by an inking-roller of gelatine, care being taken that the varnish or pigment is of the right consistency and'uniformly distributed over the gelatine inking-roller. If the ink should be too thick, spirits of turpentine should be added to make it more fluid. The inkingroller is then passed by hand over the surface of the elastic printing-plate until a sufficient amount of ink is uniformly deposited thereon.

By the term ink, as used in this specification and in the claims, I mean the substance with which the printing is to be effected, whether varnish alone or varnish mixed with fusible colors, or with fluoride of an alkali. If fusible colors or alkaline fluorides are mixed with the varnish or other vehicle, they should be very finely pulverized and thoroughly mixed therewith. If varnish alone is used for the printing, the pulverized coloring-matter or pulverized fluoride is dusted j very slowly, so as to permit the air to escape from the surface of the resinous ink before the glass or china covers it, as otherwise an imperfect impression will be made and the result will be faulty.

When the desired pattern or design has been applied to the surface of the glass or china with fusible colors, or with alkaline fluoride, the article is exposed to sufficient heat in a suitable furnace to fuse the colors onto the surface to be decorated, or to cause a reaction to take place between the fluorine and the silica of the glassware, whereby the glass is etched. I

By applying different colors to various parts of the pattern it is obvious that the design may be printed'on the china and glass in various colors simultaneously.

It is necessary, in printing a continuous band or pattern around the surface of a tapered article,-to make use of the curved guide 6, so that the ends of the pattern shall meet and properly register with each other; otherwise it would be impossible to connect the ends of the pattern in a proper manner, and the article would not be salable. These patterns are usually of a delicate character, being generally composed printing-bed having a curved guide for securing the proper registration of the ends of a continuous pattern on a conical article has I do not therefore claim the bed, nor

been before known; Such a guide is unnecessary in pail-graining machines, and is neither necessary nor applicable to printing on cylindrical articles.

In printing on articles not having straight sides, the blocks and plugs described constitute filling-pieces to secure to the article the requisite straight rolling surface necessary to the application of the pattern in the required plane on its surface.

Having thus described my improvement,

I what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The device for printing on tapering articles of china or glass by rolling contact of the article with the printing-surface, consisting of a plane-surfaced bed having aproj ectingledge, e, an elastic printing-plate, a, and means, sub stantially as described, for attaching the printing-plate to the bed and stretching it relatively thereto, substantiallyas and for thepurposes described.

2. The device for printing on tapering articles of china or glass by rolling contact of the article with the printing-surface, consisting of a plane-surfaced bed, cl, having a projecting curved guide, 0, and an elastic printing-plate, a, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The device for printing on tapering articles of china and glass, consisting of bed (1, provided with a recess, a, printing-plate a, and curved guide 0, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. In an apparatus for printing on china and glass ware, the combination of such articles with filling'pieces of suitable shape to fun nish a bearing-surface of conical form, to enable the article to be rolled over in contact with a printing-surface, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 26th day of March, A. D. 1883.

HEB-MANN SGHULZE-BERGE.

Witnesses:

WV. B. COR-WIN,

J AMES K. BAKEWELL. 

